5.1 Surround Sound gaming headphones any good?

[Sir_Real]

I'm thinking of investing in a pair but as there not cheap around £50 i would like to hear from someone who owns a pair how well surround sound works in headphones?

[Kursah]

I've owned a couple of sets (Turtle Beach HPA2 version 1 wall power, version 2 usb power, and LTB Magnum 5.1 AC97), and listened to a few others. By far the best I've heard is the Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA2 version2 w/USB power (all that is out now...has been that way for almost a year). They have great sound, tons of bass, good for tunes, movies and is very nice in gaming. Has an in-line amp to help clean up the output from your sound card, though I do notice a difference going from on-board to my x-fi extreme music, the bass is tighter and punchier instead of a tad muddy, and the hi's are clearer. In-game is very nice and overall listening is good as they're very comfortable, so comfortable in-fact my fiance has tossed my old LTB's and taken over my TB HPA2's. They're running about $60 US at newegg over here, dunno what you'll have that way.

Another set worth looking at is the Cyber Snipa's 5.1 gaming headset, similar build, very good looking and comfortable looking along with built in amp, and just uses one USB for all connections, as it has it's own usb sound card. I hear the sound is very good from them, the bass is also good, but I have heard it's not quite as good as the Turtle Beach HPA2's. Though it's easily found for around 50-55US shipped over here now-a-days. I'd strongly consider either of them, if you have a decent sound card I'd say get the Turtle Beaches, if you have onboard or old crap for audio get the Cyber Snipa's.

They are good, positioning is pretty good, the sound I'm impressed with, but I'm taking a plunge in a new direction, as you can see from my thread a few down (Considering a hew headset). I was considering all sorts of options, and wanted better overall sound from my Turtle Beaches. Well it seems the only true way to accomplish this is by going with a better headphone setup. I found a set of JVC HA-RX700's that were pretty cheap and from what I've read there's a pretty big following to their sound quality for music and games. There's also a mod to add a removable mic boom (similar to the Turtle Beach's) to the LH earcup to essentially make them a headset when you want.

I'm doing that mod, and am considering getting some sort of headphone amp for volume control beyond software as those JVC's won't have an in-line volume control like the Cyber's or TB's. But they look comfy and if they're even as comfy as my TB's were I'd be good to go. But if you want something that works great out of the box and has lots of goodies either of the gaming 5.1 headsets I've recommended should treat you quite well. I can definately vouch for the Turtle Beaches, the new V2's have more bass and better sound clarity, they are vented cups so they do leak sound at higher volumes, but the sound they make is worth it!

Hope that helps!

[vbx]

For me. 5.1 doesn't work on Vista nor Win7. Only on XP.

[Kantastic]

You probably haven't configured it yet in your audio drivers.

[Kursah]

Really? You must have a pretty aged setup...I haven't messed with an onboard or aftermarket card that can't do 5.1+ (if 5.1 is a feature) in Vista or 7.

[Maban]

I have an HPA2. It's not what I was expecting, but it is a pretty nice headset. The build quality of the inline amp is not by any means great. the first set I had (RMA'd), one of the dials had a loose connection and would cut out if at certain places, like in between 8 and 9 and if pushed in a certain way. The second one that I currently have the LED just decided to not work anymore, all it needed was a nudge and it works now. The cable coming from the PC to the amp is too short for my liking, and the cable going from the amp to the headphones is too long. It has a nice microphone though. Nice clear center speakers, pretty nice bass, though could be better. Can get very loud, like desktop speaker loud. I've tested the power usage with a Kill-A-Watt and it doesn't even show any power being used. Not sure if that's because of a bad meter or it just takes minimal power.

[Kursah]

Most headphones are measured in mW (milli-Watts) hard saying if a Kill-a-watt can measure that low of draw. iirc it would take 1000mW = 1W.

I never have had an issue with either HPA2's amp though, but the USB version needed less volume on the channels, I usually run between 3-4 for sub, center, rear and front's, then 60% master volume thru x-fi control panel, and 80-100% thru the media player I'm listening to and around 50-70% for games (depending on if I'm using TS or not). The mic is great, that's why I plan on doing this mod to my JVC's ( http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/dt7...5/#post4027549 ).

I do gotta say as a direct comparison between my wall-powered HPA2 and USB powered HPA2, there was a pretty good difference on the same source, I was impressed how much better, louder and clearer they were..especially after about a week into them. The originals were good, and sure the bass could be better, it's only got a 30mm vibration driver for the sub...pretty tiny overall imo, but it does a damn good job, sometimes I gotta turn it down, it get's overwealming lol.